Return of the Dark Sun
The Return of the Dark Sun is the approach of a zero-point energy field towards Earth. It is the Second Trial set for humankind by the Super-Ancient Beings. History Early History At a currently unknown point in Earth's history, a race of Super-Ancient Beings discovered the Dark Sun and through their research learned that it comes closer to the central Sun every few million years, but its' deadly radiation is blocked from hitting Earth by Jupiter and Saturn. However, they predicted that on rare occasions the gaseous planets would not protect Earth, and that any life on the planet at that stage would be wiped out. The Super-Ancients then set about constructing a machine, comprised of six vertices containing an inverted pyramid, which would work in conjunction with six oblong diamonds they also manufactured, referred to as Pillars. Through these, on any day that the Dark Star breached the safe distance between itself and Earth, each inverted pyramid would fire a concentrated laser at the Earth's very core, which would then send out a sonic vibration that was powerful enough to keep the Dark Sun at its safe distance. Though they were able to prevent the Dark Star from approaching in their time, the Super-Ancient Beings realised that even after they were gone from the Earth (by extinction, or otherwise departing the planet), there may yet be intelligent life, and so made the prevention of the Dark Star the second of five trials which would allow them to determine if a new sentient species did arise and were worthy of existing. To this end, they constructed tools that would work in unison with the Firestone of the Golden Capstone to cleanse the Pillars, reveal the locations of each Vertex, the dates each Pillar had to be laid, view the Dark Star and reveal the incantation that would activate the Machine. After the Super-Ancients were gone, the Dark Star continued to make the odd breach into the solar system, though the planets were largely unaffected by virtue of the gas planets' orbits. However, on one occasion, the Dark Sun's energy destroyed a small planet between Mars and Jupiter, causing an asteroid belt to form. At some point during the rise of human culture, the Super-Ancient Beings returned and provided a collective group with knowledge of the Dark Star, as well as the tools that would allow them to find the Vertices of the Machine, as well as the six Pillars. Eventually these Machine components came to be kept in Egypt under the Pharoh Khufu's keep (himself apparently being a King of Land). However, the priest Thuthmosis stole the Pillars and the Sacred Stones, unwittingly putting the Earth at greater risk of being destroyed by the Dark Sun as they were scattered around the world. Before The Six Sacred Stones During the late 20th century, the archaeologist Max "Wizard" Epper was researching the Machine when he deduced its purpose to repel the Dark Sun whenever it drew too close into the solar system. He would consult with astronomers, who could only verify that something was out there since things were being blocked from being viewed from Earth, and thus Wizard became convinced of the Dark Star's existence. While this became Wizard's primary focus throughout his career, he became side-tracked for several years with the Golden Capstone and upcoming Tartarus sunspot event. Only after the sunspot was dealt with in March 2006 did he return his full attention to his Dark Sun project. In his endeavors over the next year, he recruited his anthropologist friend Yobu "Tank" Tanaka and two of his former students, Lachlan and Julius Adamson, to try and predict the approach of the Dark Star and prepare a mission to restore the Machine. At the same time, other parties began making their own preparations to complete the completion of the Dark Star's return trial, if only to obtain the Pillars' rewards. Wolf and the Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force (operating on behalf of the Caldwell Group which served the Kingdom of Sea) allied with China's Mao Gongli and the Saudi spy Vulture to find the Machine components and divide/share the rewards. The King of the Kingdom of Land, Vladimir "Carnivore" Romanov, having watched the events involving the Tartarus Rotation, decided his efforts would be better suited to piggybacking on the efforts of his rivals, and his cousin Iolanthe Compton-Jones inserted into the CIEF-China-Saudi alliance. Conversely, the Japanese Blood Brotherhood, a radical group who felt their homeland's humiliation at the end of World War II deeply, learned of the looming threat of the Dark Star thanks to Tank, and decided that preventing the Machine from being rebuilt to let the world be destroyed would restore their honour. The Six Sacred Stones On December 1st 2007, Wizard and Tank entered a chamber beneath Witch Mountain, where they believed the Philosopher's Stone was kept. Finding several carvings relating to the Machine, soon Wizard found one that noted that the first Pillar had to be set in its Vertex 100 days before the Dark Star's return, which was a little over a week from then. Their subsequent capture by Mao and his men set off a chain of events that led Jack West Jr and the Coalition of Minnows team to discovering the return of the Dark Sun and the necessity of restoring the Machine. The trial to repel the Dark Star began in earnest as the Coalition team ventured to the first Vertex beneath Abu Simbel with the cleansed first Pillar and set it in place atop the inverted pyramid. However, as soon as the Pillar was placed, their rivals' various attempts to claim the Pillar or destroy the Firestone resulted in the mission to restore the Machine also took on a darker turn. Indeed the Japanese Blood Brotherhood's mole in the CIEF, Switchblade, very nearly derailed the success of the trial to repel the Dark Star when he attempted to drop the second Pillar into the abyss below the inverted pyramid. It was only Jack's last-ditch effort to catch and place the Pillar that allowed for further opportunity to continue the mission to restore the Machine. The Five Greatest Warriors With nearly three months until the time to place the third Pillar, the Coalition team and the CIEF and its allies took the time to research the location of the outstanding Machine components, with the former focusing on the Five Greatest Warriors. During the mission to place the third Pillar in the Hokkaido Vertex, Jack's team and Wolf's CIEF force reluctantly agreed to a truce to place the Pillar due to the opposition the Japanese presented them. Once the Pillar was set, they went their separate ways, only to all end up captured by Carnivore's forces, the Russian royal having decided to make his move. To the imprisoned players in the Machine's restoration trial, Carnivore announced his plan to manipulate all of them into working for him and providing him with the Pillars and their rewards. With their reluctant compliance, the Coalition team laid the fourth and fifth Pillars at their respective Vertices, while Mao, Vulture and Scimitar were sent to uncover the sixth Pillar. With only one Pillar needing to be set in place to complete the Machine's restoration, Carnivore made his own play to claim the final Pillar from Jack and his team (who had retrieved it instead of Vulture's group), and proceeded on to the sixth Vertex on Easter Island. During the confrontation there, Jack killed the Russian royal and placed the Pillar with Lily, performing the final ritual that successfully repelled the Dark Star and completed the trial of the Machine. After The Five Greatest Warriors Years later, Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza explained to Jack how the return of the Dark Sun and its repelling was the second of five tasks set by the super-ancient beings to test life on Earth. (The Four Legendary Kingdoms) Trivia . Category:The Six Sacred Stones Category:The Five Greatest Warriors Category:Events Category:Ancient Trials